843. Silk and Shadows (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Barnes & Noble:
Cutting a dazzling swath through Victorian society, wealthy and seductive Peregrine weaves a web of desire around Lady St. James, who's pledged to wed Peregrine's enemy. Only the burning power of love can pierce Peregrine's chilling silence about his secret past and hidden purpose, and Sara plunges into a whirlpool of uncertainty with a man who has everything a woman could want -- and fear.

My rating: 2 stars

768. Shattered Rainbows (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Fantastic Fiction:
Catherine had saved Lord Michael Kenyon on the battlefields of Europe. Now, she is standing in his London drawing room asking him to pretend to be her mate. Catherine is in line to inherit a title, an ancient home, and heritage -- if she arrives on the Island of Skoal with her husband, who unbeknownst to Michael is dead.

My rating: 3 stars

748. River of Fire (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
On his return from the Napoleonic Wars, Captain Kenneth Wilding rides to Sutterton Hall to claim his inheritance, only to discover that his father has ruined the estate. The only way to salvage it and provide a dowry for his sister is to accept his creditor's bargain: Wilding's debt will be forgiven, if he infiltrates a prominent painter's household and solves a murder. Wilding takes a job as secretary to the painter, but finds his task complicated by his growing attraction to his employer's daughter and by his own secret yearning to paint.

My rating: 2 stars

726. Silk and Secrets (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Set in the Near East of the Great Game, this sequel to Putney's Silk and Shadows switches focus from Mikhal Khanauri and Sara St. James to the adventures of Sara's cousin Lord Ross Carlisle. Carlisle, now Marquess of Kilburn and heir to the duchy of Windermere, is headed for Bokhara (currently Uzbekistan) for word of the missing Ian Cameron, brother of Ross's young wife who ran away 12 years earlier. En route he is rescued from maurauding Turkomans by his long-lost bride, Juliet, rather improbably dressed as a Saharan Tuareg and the accepted leader of a small Persian fortress. The two embark for Bokhara together, fighting the desert, hostile factions and each other.

My rating: 4 stars

696. A Kiss of Fate (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Gwynne, the daughter of an eighteenth-century librarian and widow of one of the powerful Guardians, has always wished she had inherited the Guardians' magical talents, but she is an excellent librarian and scholar of Guardian history. Gwynne is consequently overwhelmed when she meets Lord Ballister, a Scottish laird and the most powerful Guardian weather worker in generations. And he is instantly besotted. Wanting nothing to do with him because of the visions of bloodshed she has when close to him, Gwynne nevertheless agrees to marry him at the behest of the Guardian Council, and her wedding night reveals that she really does have a Guardian gift. Then their love for each other and dedication to the Guardian cause bring new challenges when Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Scotland.

My rating: 1 star

646. Thunder and Roses (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Clare, a pious Methodist schoolteacher in a small Welsh village in 1814, agrees to live for three months with a wealthy man named Nicholas known as the "Demon Earl." Nicholas is the son of a nobleman and his gypsy wife who grew up spending some months of each year on the road with caravans and the rest of the year residing in his grandfather's sumptuous mansion. A part of the bargain is that he be allowed to kiss her once a day. Clare hopes that if she carries out her end of the deal Nicholas will see that the dangerous mine in town--in which several men have already lost their lives--is brought up to modern standards. There are also several subplots involving a friend of Nicholas's who has turned vengeful because of an imagined wrong done to him, and the rumor that Nicholas's grandfather died of a heart attack after barging in on his grandson in bed with the grandfather's second wife.

My rating: 3 stars

607. The Rake (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Disinherited and disgraced by his libidinous exploits, Reginald Davenport's last chance for his respectability is to claim his place as master of Strickland, his ancestral estate, where he discovers his estate manager is a woman in disguise.

My rating: 3 stars

573. Petals in the Storm (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from author:
A spy mission to Paris brings Rafe Whitbourne, a duke who prides himself on cool control, face to face with Margot Ashton, a beautiful betrayer who is the only woman he has ever loved. A revised and expanded version of the Regency The Controversial Countess.

My rating: 4 stars

Excerpt: [from Chapter 2]

"NO!"

Though the perfume bottle whizzed by his temple with no more than two inches to spare, Robert Anderson made no attempt to dodge, knowing that Maggie had an excellent aim and no real desire to damage him. She was merely, so to speak, sending him a message. With her usual good sense, she had chosen to throw the bottle of cheap scent given to her by a purse-pinching Bavarian with poor taste.

Robin smiled at his companion. Her magnificent bosom was heaving and her eyes flashed sparks; gray ones today, because of the silvery robe she wore. "Why don't you want to meet this duke that Lord Strathmore is sending? You should be flattered that the Foreign Office is taking such an interest in you."

A spate of Italian profanity was his answer. He tilted his blond head to one side and listened critically. When her outburst was over, he said, "Very creative, Maggie, love, but it isn't like you to slip out of character. Surely Magda, Countess Janos, should swear in Magyar?"

"I know more profanity in Italian," she said loftily. 'And you know perfectly well that I never slip out of character with anyone but you." Her look of aristocratic dignity gave way to an impish chuckle. "Don't think you can change the subject, which is the Most Noble, the Duke of Candover."

"So it is." Robin studied his companion thoughtfully. They had known each other for a long time, and though the relationship was no longer an intimate one, they were still the best of friends. It was unlike her to be temperamental, even when she had been acting the part of a volatile Hungarian noblewoman for two years. "What do you have against the duke?"

Maggie sat down at her vanity table and lifted an ivory-backed brush, then began pulling it through the tawny waves of hair that fell over her shoulders. Scowling into the mirror, she said, "The man's a prig."

"Does that mean he didn't adequately appreciate your charms?" Robin said with interest. "Strange— Candover has the reputation of being quite the lady's man. I can't believe that he would ignore a tasty morsel like you."

"I am nobody's tasty morsel, Robin! Rakes are the biggest prigs of all. Pious hypocrites, in my experience." She tugged viciously at a knot in her hair. "Don't try to pick a new fight until we've finished with the current one. I refuse to have anything to do with the Duke of Candover, just as I refuse to continue spying. That part of my life is over, and no one—not you, not the duke, not Lord Strathmore—can change my mind. As soon as I take care of a few matters of business, I will be leaving Paris."

Robin came to stand behind her. Taking the brush from her hand, he began pulling it gently through her thick, dark gold hair. It was odd how they still shared some of the intimacy of husband and wife, though they had never married. He had always enjoyed brushing her hair, and the faint sandalwood scent took him back to the years when they had been impassioned young lovers, challenging the world with few thoughts for the future.

Maggie was looking stonily into the mirror. Her eyes were now a cold gray, not sparkling as they had been earlier. After several minutes of brushing, she began to relax.

"Did Candover do something dreadful?" he asked quietly. "If it would upset you to see him, I won't mention it again."

She chose her words carefully, knowing that Robin was uncomfortably adept at detecting hidden meanings. "Though he was rather despicable, it was a long time ago and it wouldn't bother me to see him. I simply don't want another man nagging me to keep doing what I don't want to do."

Robin's gaze met hers in the mirror. "Then why not meet him once to tell him that? If you want to wreak a bit of vengeance for past injuries, a fitting punishment would be to look your seductive best. You can drive him mad with longing while you turn down his request."

"I'm not sure that would work," she said dryly. "We parted on rather poor terms."

"That makes no difference—he's probably been thinking lustful thoughts of you ever since. Half the diplomats in Europe have let state secrets fall from their lips while struggling for one of your smiles." Robin grinned. "Wear that green ball gown, heave an alluring sigh as you refuse his request, then glide gracefully from the room. I guarantee it will cut up his peace for at least the next month."

She regarded her reflection thoughtfully. While she had a great deal of whatever it was that drove men mad, she was not convinced that Candover would succumb to her charms. Still, anger and lust were closely elated, and Rafael Whitbourne had been very angry indeed at their last meeting___

A slow, wicked smile curved her lips. Then she drew back her head and laughed. "Very well, Robin, you win. I'll meet with your ridiculous duke. I owe him a few nights of ruined sleep. But I guarantee he won't change my mind."

Robin dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Good lass." In spite of her protests, if she saw Candover there was a chance that she could be persuaded to continue her work for a while longer. And that would be a very good thing.

When Robin left, Maggie did not immediately summon her maid to complete her toilette. Instead, she crossed her arms on the edge of the vanity and laid her head on them, feeling sad and tired. It had been foolish to agree to see Rafe Whitbourne. He had behaved very badly, yet even then she had seen how his cruelty had come from pain, and she had been denied the pleasure of hating him.

Nor did she love him; the Margot Ashton who thought the sun revolved around his handsome head had died over a dozen years before. Maggie had been many different people in the ensuing years, as Robin had taken her under his wing and given her a reason to go on living. Rafe Whitbourne was only a bittersweet memory, with no relevance to her present self.

Love and hate were indeed opposite sides of the same coin because both meant caring; the true opposite was indifference. Since indifference was the only feeling Rafe could rouse in Maggie now, minor forms of revenge were not worth the effort. She just wanted to be done with this phase of her life, with deceit and misdirection and informers.

Most of all, she wanted to accomplish the task that had been delayed too long, then go home to England, which she hadn't seen in thirteen years. She would have to start over again, this time without Robin's protection. She would miss him bitterly, but even her loneliness would contain relief; the two of them knew each other too well for Maggie to reinvent herself if he was near.

She lifted her head and propped her chin on one fist while she regarded herself in the mirror. Her high cheekbones made her a convincing Magyar, and she spoke the language well enough so that no one had ever doubted that she was Hungarian. But how would Rafe Whitbourne see her after so many years?

A wry smile curved her full lips—lips that had had at least eleven pieces of bad poetry dedicated to them. Apparently the man could still arouse some emotion in her, even if it was only vanity. She studied her image critically.

Maggie had never been a great fancier of her own appearance, for her face lacked the classic restraint of true beauty. Her cheekbones were too high, her mouth too wide, her eyes too large.

But at least she looked little different from when she had been eighteen. Her complexion had always been excellent, and riding and dancing had kept her figure shapely. Though there was more fullness to the curves, no man had ever objected to that. Granted, her hair had darkened, but instead of becoming dull tan as blond hair often did, it was now the shade of rippling, golden wheat. Overall, she decided, she looked better now than when she and Rafe had been engaged.

It was tempting to imagine that he was fat and balding, but the damned man had the sort of looks that would only improve with age. His personality was another matter. Even at twenty-one he had not been free of the arrogance of wealth and rank, and the intervening years would only have made him worse. By this time, he must be insufferable.

As she resumed dressing for dinner, she told herself that it would be amusing to try to pierce his smugness. Yet she could not rid herself of the uneasy feeling that meeting him would prove to be a mistake.

550. The Wild Child (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Recently betrothed to wealthy but strange Lady Meriel Grahame, Kyle Renbourne, heir to the Duke of Wrexham, is called overseas and asks his twin brother, Dominic, to masquerade as the groom-to-be, with unexpected repercussions.

My rating: 2 stars

534. The Bargain (Mary Jo Putney)

Clément-Auguste Andrieux: La bataille de Waterloo. 18 juin 1815, 1852

Synopsis from Amazon Canada:
To keep her fortune, a beautiful heiress impulsively weds a penniless officer dying of wounds received at Waterloo. But when the blasted man hasn't the grace to die, she suddenly finds herself with a healthy, vibrant husband who wants to renegotiate the terms of their bargain -- and ultimately possess the heart of his bewildered bride ....

My rating: 4 stars

402. Stolen Magic (Mary Jo Putney)

By Domenichino

Synopsis from Amazon:
Earl of Falconer, Simon Malmain, chief enforcer of the Guardian Council, which oversees the use of magic in 18th-century Britain, has been turned into a unicorn by Lord Drayton, a renegade mage whom Simon charges with encouraging the Jacobite uprising; only a virgin can transform Simon back into human form. Luckily for Simon, animal-loving "Mad Meggie," Drayton's "servant," succeeds in doing so, while Simon breaks the spell that's kept Meg in the dark sorcerer's thrall. Allied in a "pretend" marriage, the pair pool their unusual talents in an effort to ruin Lord Drayton's plan to prevent the Industrial Age from revolutionizing England.

My rating: 1 star

394. The China Bride (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from publisher:
Born to a Scottish father and a Chinese mother, Troth Montgomery dreamed of someday traveling to Scotland, until the death of her father condemned her to a shadowy life as an interpreter in Canton. Then Kyle Renbourne, viscount and adventurer, discovers Troth's true identity and persuades her to be his guide on a dangerous journey into the heart of the Celestial Kingdom. A meeting of the minds flares into searing passion, an idyll that ends when Kyle is captured and condemned to death. A reckless prison cell marriage the night before his execution sends Troth to England, where she arrives at the estate of Kyle's brother. Though accepted as bride and widow, she is haunted by the memory of her dashing husband. Then the past reaches out to Troth, bringing passion, despair, and danger. Now she must draw on her unique heritage to save all she holds dear -- and become the woman she is destined to be ....

My rating: 2 stars

391. Uncommon Vows (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from author:
Lady Meriel de Vere had deceived Adrian, Earl of Shropshire. Standing in the royal forest, her falcon perched on her arm, she boldly claimed to be a Welsh commoner, not a noble Norman. Lord Adrian beheld in wonder her raven-black hair and defiant blue eyes, heard her lies, and felt a dark, primeval passion rob him of all reason. In one irrevocable move of fate, he ordered this fair beauty locked in his castle’s tower, vowing to entice her into surrendering her kisses with lips as hungry as his own. Never to give in, to die if she must, was Meriel’s vow ... until one rash moment of impetuousness swept them both up in the royal battles of kings ... and into a dangerous intrigue of sweet caresses ... and fiery, all-consuming love.

My rating: 3 stars

211. Dearly Beloved (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
In 1799 Scotland, Gervase Brandelin, the victim of a sexually abusive mother, is livid when forced to wed Mary Hamilton, a deranged clergyman's innocent daughter whom he has unwittingly compromised, and promptly rapes her following the ceremony. After years of separation, they meet again, but Gervase does not recognize his wife. Instead, he knows her as Diana Lindsay, whom he believes to be an accomplished courtesan and whom he woos to become his mistress. Through the tender courtship and through Gervase's kindness to the epileptic son conceived in the brutality of their wedding night, the pair experiences unsullied love for the first time and discovers the joys of family. Gervase's involvement in the super-secret espionage service working to undermine Napoleon adds spice and atmosphere.

My rating: 3 stars

191. Dancing on the Wind (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from author:
A sneaky man meets a sneakier woman as spymaster Lucien Fairchild tries to find a mysterious female who destroys his peace and steals his heart.

My rating: 4 stars

124. One Perfect Rose (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Stunned when his family physician tells him that he only has a few months to live, Stephen Kenyon, Duke of Ashburton, escapes Ashburton Hall and temporarily leaves his responsibilities behind to wander the countryside anonymously as he tries to sort out his feelings and reconcile himself to his apparent fate. However, when his heroic rescue of a young boy results in his becoming part of a traveling theater company, he meets the compelling Rosalind Jordan.

My rating: 4 stars